Wayward Son
by Rainy Meadows
Summary: It started with a scroll, and a theft later that night. The Storm Hawks meet a boy with eyes as gold as the sun, and then things really start to get strange. Rated T for violence and a certain young alchemist's language.
1. Chapter 1

_"Mom?"_

_The dark haired woman looked up at her young son, who was gazing sleepily at her from beneath the folds of sheets._

"_What is it?" she asked. "There's nothing under the bed, I checked already. Nothing in the closet, either."_

"_It's not that," the little boy told her. "It's… when's Dad going to come home again?"_

_She picked up a small blue stuffed toy that had been sitting in the corner and knelt down next to the bed._

"_Well, you see," she said, "it's very complicated. Your father has a lot of work to do and he does it for everybody. If it wasn't for your father, we'd be knee-deep in who knows what by now."_

"_So Dad can't come home because he's too busy being a hero?"_

_She sighed. How was one supposed to explain this to a four year old?_

"_Pretty much," she said, "but I promise he'll come home at the end of the month."_

"_But you said that last month. And he still hasn't come back."_

_The woman ran a hand through his already tousled hair. He yawned, and she passed him the toy, which he drew into a tight cuddle._

"_Don't you worry about this now," she said. "Daddy will come home soon, I promise."_

_The kid was clearly unsatisfied with the answer, but it looked as though he was too tired to continue his questioning. He yawned again, and this time his eyes stayed closed._

_Still stroking his head, the woman began to sing._

_"_Carry on, my wayward son,

There'll be peace when you are done,

Lay your weary head to rest,

Don't you cry no more…_"_

_By the time she was finished, the little boy was sound asleep._

_She leaned forward and kissed his forehead._

"_Sweet dreams, Aerrow," she whispered. "See you in the morning."_

* * *

"Uh… Aerrow?"

Green eyes blearily opened, their owner still half dead to the world due to sleep.

"Aerrow, I don't think the librarians would appreciate it if you drooled all over their books."

"Mmph?"

He sat up far too quickly and the world only stopped spinning after he shook his head a few times. Embarrassing, to say the least.

"You okay?" asked Piper as he wiped his mouth on his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Sorry about that. I don't think I got very much sleep last night. Any luck?"

Piper sat down next to him, slamming down a book that was about the size and weight of the average paving slab.

"Next to nothing," she muttered in an annoyed tone. "Someone must have been pretty eager about crystals; almost the whole section's gone! If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect Master Cyclonis of-"

"Isn't she supposed to be some _you_-level crystal mage?" Aerrow asked with a small smile that he hoped was reassuring. "'Sides, she's probably still busy yelling at Dark Ace over that whole Suit of Untold Vengeance thing."

The girl smiled, but only briefly, and then tried to engross herself in the book (wow, even the writing was so faded it was like a paving slab).

"Are you okay?" He felt like it was his turn to ask.

"I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her face in clear exasperation. "Just a little frustrated, that's all."

"Frustrated? Why?"

She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, and Aerrow leaned back and peered down the corridor.

He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, save for a rather lost-looking kid. Must have been about twelve or thirteen – it was hard to tell since his face was covered by a hood, so Aerrow had to judge by his height – and yet he was looking around some of the heaviest and oldest tomes the library had to offer. As the Sky Knight watched, he knelt down and dusted the spines with his gloved fingers, sighing every now and then.

It couldn't have been _him_ that Piper was angry about. He was a complete stranger who was hardly doing anything.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

Ah. That was it.

"Marco!" called Junko from somewhere in the depths of the bookshelves.

"Polo!" shouted Finn from somewhere else.

"Apparently," Piper said, "'silence in the library' just became optional."

"Aw, cut them some slack," Aerrow said dismissively. "It's not like they're causing any…"

He couldn't help but trail off when he saw what that boy was doing now.

"Any what?" asked Piper.

"…harm," he finished weakly. "Could you excuse me for a sec?"

He got up.

It truly was a pitiful sight. Perhaps the most pitiful since Finn got his head stuck in his skimmer's wing last week, and nobody was any closer to figuring out how _that_ happened. The hooded boy was trying desperately to reach the books on the upper shelves, but his diminutive stature meant that even though he was jumping and scrabbling with all his might, he couldn't even come within six inches of the tome he desired. Apparently he hadn't thought to use a chair or something.

"Hey," said Aerrow, and casually leaned against the bookcase. "You need a hand?"

No eyes were visible, but the boy glared at him with more menace than should have been possible for someone his age.

"It's nothing to worry about," the Sky Knight said calmly as he approached. "I bet tons of people have trouble reaching those shelves. Most of the guys who work here are all about a hundred. Which book do you need, this one?"

The nod from the boy was almost unnoticeable, but Aerrow pulled the book down all the same. The boy yanked it from his hands and stomped away without even looking back.

"You're welcome!" he called to the empty air.

"What was that about?" asked Piper, who had watched the entire peculiar spectacle.

Aerrow shrugged.

"No idea," he confessed.

* * *

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

Finn shuffled around the corner and waited for his Wallop friend to approach, then scampered as quietly as he could to the far end of the shelves. It wouldn't be nearly so funny if they hadn't been doing this for the past ten minutes or so.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

And the hilarious part was that he _still_ hadn't caught on!

"Finn, are you just making me go round in circles?"

Oh crud.

"What? No, man!" he lied. "C'mon, I'm your best buddy, would I do that to you?"

"Yeah, you would!" Junko pointed out. "You totally would! Marco!"

"Polo!" Finn responded, and straightened up once more, grinning in the knowledge that he would never be located.

But when he rounded the corner, he froze.

He couldn't make out any eyes in the shadows cast by the child's hood, but he got that weird tingling feeling that meant he was not only being watched, but glared at with a feeling of unfiltered poison. He didn't really get it: judging by his height, this kid was only around eleven or twelve, he was holding a book the size of a tombstone and his hidden eyes were like lasers boring right into the back of the blonde's head as if he had threatened to burn the place down.

Eventually, after around ten seconds that felt like an eternity, the kid turned around and skulked off around the end of the bookcase, leaving a very bewildered marksman in his wake.

"Did I say something?" he wondered aloud.

It was almost like that kid thought he owned the place or something. He didn't make the rules. What was his problem?

"_Marco!_"

With perhaps the least manly scream ever emitted by human vocal chords, Finn leapt around a metre into the air and almost brought a whole bookcase crashing down on top of him when he tried to grab it.

"Junko!" he cried. "Who said you could sneak up on me like that?!"

"Well _you're_ not playing by the rules," Junko pointed out, "so why should I have to?"

"I, uh…" Words failed Finn as he prized his fingers away from the shelves. "Um… you still shouldn't have snuck up on me!" He stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it around.

"And did you have to yell so loud?" he asked. "I think you busted something in my ear."

"Heh, sorry," Junko said with an embarrassed smile, "but I thought the whole point of the game was to yell?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Are you guys finally done with your glorified shouting match?"

They stopped their chatting and turned to look at Piper, who was glaring at them with not quite the ferocity of that weird boy, but she was pretty close.

"He started it," Junko said as he pointed at Finn.

"I don't really care who started it, so long as it's over!" said Piper. "This is a library – we're not vacationing on Terra Tropica! I know you guys probably think this is boring, and I'm really sorry about that, but-"

"-but we don't need a repeat of the SUV incident," Aerrow finished for her as he approached. "So did you guys find _anything_ worth investigating?"

"We did find a bunch of really weird scrolls back there," said Junko, indicating with his thumb.

"Not sure how much good they'd be, though," said Finn. "They're mostly just weird circles and symbols that look like something out of a boring fantasy novel, along with a bunch of rubbish about stones and stuff."

Piper craned her neck to look at the table at the end of the aisle, where the aforementioned scrolls were stacked.

"It's worth looking at," she said, and walked over to them. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Finn and Junko didn't answer though, on account of Aerrow asking who won.

"Junko did," Finn replied. "Very loudly. In my face."

"You had it coming, Finn," said Junko. "You were just making me go around the same book case over and over, weren't you?"

"I… uh…"

Now there were _two_ pairs of eyes shooting accusation at the nervous marksman.

"Okay, fine," he said, "but it was funny while it lasted, okay?"

"Whoa! Hey guys, come over here and look at this!"

Subject officially changed, they hurried over to where Piper had unrolled a scroll on the table, revealing oddly designed circles, numerous strange-looking symbols and an image of a small red stone.

"What is it?" asked Finn. "I found something good, didn't I?"

"Surprisingly, yes," said Piper. "Listen to this."

She read along the scroll with her finger.

"'If thou shalt ever need to combine the fifteen strongest and most powerful of crystals yet discovered'," she read, "'then thy efforts shalt be rewarded with the infinite substance, most wondrous of all creations of mankind, the Philosopher's Stone'."

Another of the images showed a bearded man in a white robe, reaching up towards the glowing red crystal with an expression of awe.

"'Without payment, thou shalt be granted the power of the gods'," Piper continued, "'to smite thine enemies to dust and rend the world asunder with nary a word. Conversely, the stone can heal the sick and injured should thou so desire, and grant thou riches beyond thy wildest dreams'. _Wow_."

"Yeah," said Aerrow, "that sums it up."

"Man, what I wouldn't give to get my hands on one of those," Finn said wistfully. "Just think of the possibilities…"

"…which for you would mean an indestructible skimmer ten times more powerful than the Condor," Aerrow recited as though he had planned this beforehand, "more girls than you could ever hope to fit on it and a lifetime's worth of endless vacations, am I right?"

Now it was Finn's turn to shoot a poison-filled glare at Aerrow, and he got up and stomped away in a huff while Aerrow and Junko unrolled more of the scrolls.

"They just keep going on and on about these really weird things," said Junko. "I don't even know how to say some of these words!"

"Yeah, and what's a… hom… un… culus?" Aerrow wondered aloud. "Is that how you're supposed to say it? What is that? Sounds like some kind of ooze."

"I could be mistaken," said Piper, "but I _think_ the word means 'little person'."

She looked for a while at a diagram of concentric circles and pentagons as if expecting it to tell her the answer, and when it didn't, she sighed.

"It's worth looking into," she said, "but there's no point looking over these scrolls if we can barely even read them. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it looks like Finn was right."

"What was that?"

A tuft of blonde hair poked around the corner, followed by the rest of Finn's head.

"Didn't quite catch that," he said, lips curling up at the corners. "Could you repeat it loud enough for me to hear?"

"Fine, Finn," said Piper. "You were right-"

"CHICA-CHA!" Finn cried joyfully.

"-these scrolls really _are_ useless."

"Aww." Finn pouted in disappointment.

"We could keep looking, but-"

"NO! No!" All three males leapt up in protest.

"-but I doubt any of us would stay sane for long enough to get some real research done," said Piper, sniggering a little, "so we may as well go home."

Aerrow, Finn and Junko heaved a sigh of relief and bliss.

"Finally," said Finn as they headed for the door. "Junko, buddy, I want a rematch when we get back to the Condor, 'kay?"

"What for?" asked Junko. "You lost."

"Only 'coz you cheated!"

"You were cheating first!"

"Do you want to put these away or shall I?" Piper asked Aerrow.

"No, I can do it," the redhead replied. "It shouldn't be hard to figure out where they go."

"Are you sure? It's no trouble, I promise."

"No, you go on ahead, I'll catch up."

As she walked away, Aerrow dragged a stool out of a corner and started slotting the scrolls back into the shelf they had sat on with the rest of their companions. The strange boy from earlier was bent over the book he'd needed help with, completely and totally engrossed. He didn't seem to notice the Sky Knight opening one of the scrolls for the last time and looking at the image of the shining red stone.

"Weird," he commented, and stepped down and made for the door.

"You wanna be careful with power like that. Fly too close to the sun and you'll get burned."

He stopped.

When he looked around, all he could see was the back of the weird child, which displayed an equally weird symbol emblazoned in black on the red fabric: a cross with a snake coiling around it, a crown above it and a small pair of wings on either side of the crown. Was that some squadron's insignia? If so, he didn't recognise it.

"What was that?" he asked.

The boy looked up, hood still hiding a majority of his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said calmly in a voice that sounded far too old for someone that height, "I talk to myself sometimes."

He went back to poring over his book.

Aerrow could have stood there for hours just staring in confusion. If this boy was talking to himself, why had it sounded so much like some vague warning? He'd been eavesdropping, hadn't he? And why did he sound so friendly then when earlier he had looked so angry and mean?

He didn't seem to be paying any attention, so Aerrow gladly took the opportunity to leave, taking a deep breath of fresh non-musty air the moment he was outside.

"What was with that guy?" he wondered aloud.

He shrugged. It was probably best not to pay him too much attention. It wasn't likely that they'd meet again.

There was only one thing left to do before he went back to the ship.

"Radarr!" he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "It's time to go!"

His co-pilot had scampered away not long before they entered that snore-fest of a building. Where could he have gone to?

"Radarr, where'd you go?" he called. "Better hurry it up, you don't wanna get left behind again, do you?"

It didn't take long after that for a small ball of blue fur to ram into Aerrow's chest like a mini living wrecking ball.

"There you are!" said Aerrow. "Where've you been? I was worried I might-"

Radarr ignored him, clambered over his shoulder and hung off his back like a bat.

"Radarr?" Aerrow said, struggling to look at him. "What're you…"

He trailed off again.

A small flock of chickens had trotted into view, clucking and ruffling their feathers, and the one at the head of the group looked up at Aerrow with a strangely inquisitive expression. It even tilted its head to one side.

"Umm…" Aerrow said, "…he went that way!"

He pointed in a random direction and the happy hens waddled out of sight.

Radarr watched them leaving, his eyes the only part of his body visible over Aerrow's shoulder. It was only once they were gone that he allowed himself to breathe.

"What is it with you and hens?" asked Aerrow. "What do they see in you?"

Great. Yet _another_ accusing glare to add to the list.

"Not that there isn't anything to you!" he insisted. "You're the best co-pilot in all the Atmos, remember?"

With a small nod Radarr smiled in self-satisfaction, while Aerrow made a beeline for the parked Condor.

"Sorry, but I just don't get it," he continued. "You're an even bigger chick magnet than Finn!"

He halted again, having just realized what he'd said.

"That was a pun, wasn't it?"

Radarr nodded.

"And it was awful, wasn't it?"

Another nod.

"Oh man, I'm such an idiot!" said Aerrow, and slapped a hand on his forehead in disbelief. "There are lumps of coal that make better jokes than that! Radarr, buddy, can you ever forgive me?"

Radarr cuddled his head in a way that said, 'I already did.'

"Yeah, I get it," Aerrow said, and returned the hug as much as he could with only one hand. "Let's just go home, okay?"

* * *

Finally alone.

The boy slammed the book shut with an echo that resounded throughout the building, then got up from his chair and looked up at the shelf.

Up there was the information he needed. Up there were the things he had been looking for.

He climbed onto the stool and found himself cursing his body. Even with the added help, he was still too short to reach those damn scrolls. He didn't want to risk jumping and breaking his legs in the inevitable fall.

It was a hopeless endeavor.

Unless…

He got down and looked around. He seemed to be the only one in the room.

Good. No witnesses.

If there were any, they would have heard a clapping noise and seen a flash of light, followed by a rather nervous looking young boy walking hurriedly to a more secluded corner with a scroll under one arm.

And if they were to check, they would see that the stool had grown half a foot taller.

* * *

**I know I said that I was going to wait until Quantum of Solace was up before I made a start on this, but the simple fact is that the very prospect of an FMA/Storm Hawks crossover was just too tempting to not dive into. And having recently finished rewatching all 52 episodes, the time just feels right. The only issue is that I haven't written Fullmetal Alchemist or Storm Hawks before, so I'm a little nervous about making everybody out of character. As I always am when writing fanfiction – I'm constantly going to wikis and TV Tropes to make sure I'm giving them the representation they deserve.**

**However, unlike my SoulHeta stories which are always (at least almost) complete by the time I start uploading them, this one is going to be the more mundane update-as-I-go-along type thing, since I'm starting my last year of high school soon and I don't know when I'll get time to write. I'm also not going to bother with special names for the chapters.**

**The next chapter is most likely going to be longer, I promise.**

**Leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Aerrow froze. He barely even had time to open his mouth before white powder was thrown at him and he sneezed so hard that Radarr fell off his shoulder, and walked away in a huff.

"Stork," the redhead choked, "what-"

"Don't you dare breathe on me!" Stork commanded. "If you even _think_ about moving before I'm finished-"

"Alright, alright!" Aerrow tried to hold up his hands defensively, but it wasn't any good as he soon felt something hitting them which felt like liquid (he kept his eyes closed just in case).

There was the sound of spraying as something (he honestly did _not_ want to know what) was sprinkled over him before finally the crazy pilot was satisfied.

"Yeah, you're clean," he declared as Aerrow brushed some powder off his shoulder.

"Dude, I better not be allergic to any of this stuff," Finn complained. "Is there some still in my hair?"

"There must be," said Piper, "it's turning green."

"What?! Aerrow, is it? Really?"

When Aerrow opened his eyes, a very desperate and still very blonde Finn was hopping from one foot to the other in anxiety. There was still white powder in his hair which didn't seem to be doing anything to the colour, but he'd had a weird encounter earlier and was feeling a bit mean.

"Actually, yeah," he lied. "That's probably the brightest green I've ever seen in my life!"

"You look like a tree!" Junko added.

"In all honesty, I should probably have considered the side effects," said Stork, "but Finn, you make a very nice blueberry bush."

"WHAT?!"

Finn pushed past Aerrow in his desperate dash to the bathroom. Once he was gone, both Aerrow and Radarr held up three fingers…

…two…

…one…

…and pointed at the door.

"HEY!" Finn screamed, right on cue. "YOU GUYS, THAT WAS CRUEL!"

The entire bridge erupted into laughter as a very grumpy and still dusty sharpshooter made his grand re-entry.

"C'mon, that wasn't funny!" he said.

"Sorry, but it kinda was," said Aerrow. "But Stork, was that really necessary?"

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Stork, getting uncomfortably close. "Of course it was! Do you have any idea of the dangers that lurk in libraries? How many people with diseases could have touched those books? Not to mention all the dust mites and mould spores and worst of all… the _bookworms._"

"Bookworms?" said Junko. "I thought I was a bookworm! What harm could a bookworm do?"

"Not _that_ kind of bookworm," Stork explained as he absent-mindedly dumped a fistful of powder on Radarr. "The kind of bookworm that can travel faster than a speeding Condor. The kind that can eat through an entire shelf in less than a second! Could you imagine what one of those things could do to your hand?!"

Radarr shook himself free of the powder before sneezing so hard that he catapulted himself in the wall and slid to the floor in a daze.

"That's awesome," Finn said dismissively as he sat down, "but did anyone else see this one real weird kid?"

"Was he about this tall," said Piper, indicating with her hand somewhere around shoulder height, "red coat, glared at everything like it was about to kill him?"

"Yeah, him!"

"What was that symbol on his back?" asked Junko, sitting down next to Finn. "I don't think I've ever seen it before."

"He said something really weird to me when I was putting those scrolls back," said Aerrow. "Something weird about power, and flying too close to the sun and getting burned."

"I have some lotion for that," Stork chimed in, but unfortunately this was largely ignored.

"It's pretty obvious that he was eavesdropping when I read out that scroll," said Piper, "but what would be the point? There wasn't anything very useful in there as far as I could tell – I mean sure, the Philosopher's Stone sounds like it could be disastrous in the wrong hands, but the writing was so vague and cryptic that I didn't know what to make of it."

"And what _is_ a homunculus?" asked Aerrow.

"It sounds like some kind of disease," Finn suggested. "Like 'Oh no, stay away from Radarr, he's got homunculus, it's contagious'."

Radarr gave him a look that said 'Go jump off a cliff'.

"Anyway," said Aerrow, trying to steer the conversation back to its original direction, "that kid… I don't think 'weird' quite covers it."

"Well, there's also creepy, ominous, queer and peculiar-" Piper suggested.

"-freaky, eerie, spooky, uncanny, unnatural, odd-" Junko added.

"Not to mention bizarre and strange!" Stork added happily.

"What're you guys, walking thesauruses?" asked Finn.

"Whatever," said Aerrow. "So long as we don't have to see him again, I'm cool with it."

He looked out the window, at the sun that was gently lowering itself beneath the clouds.

"Totally cool with it," he repeated.

* * *

Night came, and with it, the shadows.

And in those shadows, something moved.

A small, somewhat stubby figure moved from building to building, hiding in the shelter of darkness, and whenever somebody passed by he flattened himself against the wall and waited until they were gone before moving on to the next shadow.

He ran across an alleyway.

He stepped on his coat.

He tripped.

He fell flat on his face.

He spluttered a series of swear words that would make old ladies everywhere faint from shock, climbed to his feet and continued onwards.

Thank goodness this place was more densely populated than some others he'd heard of. More buildings meant more shadows, so it was way easier to sneak around and get things done. If he was caught now, he was done for. There was no way he would ever…

No. Don't think about that right now. _Focus_.

He'd reached it.

The tower was huge and if he didn't know any better, he'd have just thought it was a lighthouse. But the light was intensely bright and throbbed with energy. There was no way an ordinary lighthouse would ever look so cool.

Two guards out the front.

Dammit.

Right. Only two. This shouldn't be too hard.

He snuck around in the trees until he was by the side of the building, picked up a decent sized rock and threw it at the back of the nearest guard's head. He fell to the ground with a satisfying grunt and the second came running. He swung his legs round to kick him down and, once he too was on the floor, kicked him in the head.

Now both were out cold.

"Sorry," he muttered, and continued on.

The door was locked. Of course. But he could take care of that. Anyone watching would hear a clap and see a flash of light, and then see that the doors swung open to allow the shadow entrance.

He ran up the stairs, not caring how much noise he made anymore, until he reached the room at the top. He threw the door open and could have sworn that what he needed was just waiting, begging for him to take it.

It wouldn't be anything major. They could do without just one, couldn't they?

He opened the glass case and took out one of the glowing blue shards.

Almost instantly a blaring klaxon rang through the building. He even ducked when it started, and it took him a few moments too realise what it meant.

"Shit," he muttered. "This place is alarmed?"

With another clap and flash of light, he pulled a tea-tray-sized panel of metal out of the floor and ran to the door. Once there, rather than using the stairs, he leapt onto the rail and used the panel to surf down, knowing that not only would his old buddy inertia keep him from falling, but that this stunt would really confuse and/or impress anyone who tried to stop him.

He reached the end, jumped off, barrel-rolled out the door, jumped to his feet and started running again.

If he had a hideout to escape to, he would probably weave around the city a few times to lead off his pursuers before heading back there to calm down and try to sleep, but he didn't have a hideout. Just an alley would do. It had before.

The guards seemed to have stopped.

This couldn't be a good sign.

"Nice night tonight, isn't it?"

He froze.

Slowly, he looked round.

* * *

"Although I noticed that quite a few clouds seem to be gathering around the beacon tower," Aerrow continued, "which usually means somebody's been messing with the Aurora Stone."

He drew his knives.

"And sorry if I sound presumptuous or something, but you seem to be the only person out tonight who's dressed all in black and looks like he's got something to hide."

And switched them on.

"So why don't you hand over what I know you took?"

The thief turned around and started running.

Great. One of _those_ guys.

Aerrow sheathed his knives and started to run. This was probably going to take a while. This guy was small, but definitely fast.

Could it be the kid from earlier?

No. His coat was red with that weird symbol on the back, and this one was black.

Unless he had more than one coat, which was likely. And he did seem to be around the same height.

He put these thoughts to the side for a moment, as he'd run the thief into an alley that was blocked off by a massive brick wall, and nothing much else except a dumpster and a couple of old tyres. Unless this guy could fly, there was no way he was going anywhere.

"You know," Aerrow said, drawing his knives again, "you're lucky some other Sky Knight wasn't in the area. Some of us can be pretty fearsome. Especially when we're woken up in the middle of the night by some thief trying to steal the remains of Atmos' most treasured crystal."

He brandished his knives and switched them on again.

"So why don't you just come quietly and make this easier on yourself?"

The thief paused, and for a moment it looked as though he might actually surrender.

Then he charged. Aerrow prepared to counter his attack.

But instead the stranger jumped onto the tyres and propelled himself onto the dumpster, then kicked from side to side until he was over the top of the wall that had been blocking his passage.

For a few moments, the Sky Knight could only stare in stunned disbelief.

"Whoa," he muttered. This guy had moves!

No matter. He had to find him again.

As he ran, he started thinking again: _was_ it the same kid from earlier? He certainly seemed to have the same suspicious aura about him, and was around the same height and build, but surely somebody who could barely reach a bookshelf wouldn't be able to pull off a stunt the likes of which he'd just seen. Alright, he'd used the tyres to jump off, but they weren't THAT elastic! Then again, the coat was the same style, just a different colour, and nobody else would wear such strange clothes, would they?

His mind raced with possibilities as his feet raced along the ground. One thing was for sure: he'd sleep like a rock once he got back home.

The guy was really moving too fast for him to get a good look anyway. And he didn't remember much about the guy from the library aside from the glaring and the strange coat. So maybe it wasn't the kid from earlier?

He slowed to a halt in another alley, which looked like the place the thief would have landed.

And he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

"Are you there?" he called. "You know, it'd be better if you just gave yourself up! You might reduce your jail sentence that way!"

No reply.

"Hello?"

Suddenly there was a rush in the corner of his eye, the sound and sensation of something slicing across his back – not hurting him, but probably damaging something – and he spun to find the thief behind him holding a wicked looking knife that shone almost blindingly in the moonlight. No energy, no crystal to power it, just plain old-fashioned sharpness.

"So it's gonna be like _this_," Aerrow concluded.

He swung and thrust his knives at the thief, but no matter what he did, it was always countered. The thief's blade may as well be part of his arm, the way he moved with it, and whenever he punched forward with it, it was dangerously close to Aerrow's face. He knew he had to finish this quickly before he completely wore himself out.

Aerrow slammed the knife down with one of his own weapons and kicked out, hitting the thief in the stomach with his foot, and the guy barely had time to stumble before another kick sent him flying into a wall.

It was only then, with the black-clad stranger struggling for breath against the brickwork, that the Sky Knight felt something warm and wet on his left cheek. When he touched it and took his fingers away, he saw blood. He must have been cut and hadn't felt it due to adrenaline. It was going to hurt later, that was for sure.

"Look," he said calmly to the perpetrator. "Whatever problems you might have, whatever drove you to try to steal the Aurora Stone; I can promise you it's not worth it. If you try to sell it somewhere else, people will recognise it and you'll just get arrested on the spot. And if you're working for Cyclonia, then I'll have no choice but to deal with you right here."

The thief had stopped panting. He seemed to be listening.

"Really," said Aerrow, "I don't wanna have to hurt you. It would be best if you just gave up."

A fresh silence hung in the air.

Then the thief pounded his elbow into Aerrow's stomach and sent him back, winded, and he barely had time to blink before _something_ huge and solid punched into his body and sent him flying backwards. His grip on his weapons became non-existent.

He only just had time to register that the ground was a lot further away than it should have been before his scrabbling hands found purchase on the edge of the cliff.

They'd fought each other right to the edge – literally – and hadn't even noticed.

And that had been a clean slice right across his back. There was no way his glider was in working condition.

If he couldn't pull himself up he was done for.

He pressed down hard, but his body only rose a couple of inches before the ground crumbled under his fingers and he was forced to take his hand away, and slap it back before he lost his grip.

"Is someone there?" he called. "Anyone? Can you help me?"

He now found himself hoping the thief was still there. Or _anyone_ who could offer a helping hand.

"I-I'm down here!" he yelled. "Somebody help me!"

He tried to reach up, to get more of his arm and possibly his elbow over the earth, but it slid out from underneath him and sent him flailing, hanging by the tips of only one hand's worth of fingers.

"Anybody! Please!" he shouted. "HELP ME!"

No. Was this it? Was he going to die here?

He couldn't! It wasn't possible! He couldn't die! Not here! Not _now!_

"SOMEONE! HELP!" he screamed in desperation.

Some fearless leader, huh?

His grip was slipping, the ground failing to hold his weight any longer. He closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable rush before the end arrived-

-but then, just as he was preparing to fall to his doom, something shifted underneath him.

He was _lying down_.

Aerrow opened his eyes.

The ground had somehow extended outward, creating a diving board-like protrusion from the cliff face, and he scrambled forwards and onto more solid ground, which he'd never been more thankful for in his whole life.

When he finally stopped panting, he looked up.

Nobody was there.

"Hello?" he called, more quietly this time.

No reply. He didn't know if he'd expected one.

He looked back, at the ground where just seconds ago he'd been about to plummet to his demise. How it had happened, he didn't know and quite frankly didn't care right then. He was just glad to be alive.

"Whoever did that," he said, words falling fruitlessly into the air, "whoever saved me… thanks."

There was no way he'd be able to catch the thief now. He was probably long gone.

With a simultaneously heavy and grateful heart, he picked up his knives and walked away.

* * *

"Ah-!"

"Sorry!"

"No, it's fine," said Aerrow as he settled down again. "Just get it over with, okay?"

Piper nodded, and thankfully her next dab at the cut on Aerrow's cheek was met with only a slight flinch and hiss of pain.

"You're lucky it wasn't worse," she commented. "A bit lower and he could've slashed your neck."

"I'm not so sure he really wanted to hurt me," said Aerrow. "He was mostly –_ ow!_ – mostly aiming for my face when he wasn't just trying to defend himself. And before that, he was just running."

"Maybe he knew who he was dealing with," Piper suggested with a smile.

"Heh, maybe," said Aerrow. "But when I- _ah!_ But that wouldn't explain why he tried to fight me off, does it? And… this might sound crazy, but what if he was the one who saved me?"

"How would that be possible though?"

"I don't know, but there wasn't anybody else around at the time so I…"

He trailed off and yawned massively.

"…I can't believe I couldn't catch him," he said with disappointment.

"Aerrow, you shouldn't dwell too much on that," said Piper as she put away the disinfectant. "I'm just glad you're alright – you should be too. We'll catch that guy eventually, you'll see. How many places are there for someone who stole a piece of the most powerful crystal ever discovered to hide?"

Aerrow smiled.

"Yeah," he said as he got up, "you're probably right."

He gently brushed the cut on his cheek. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it would still probably take a while to heal.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'm alive, so yeah. See you in the morning."

He walked back to his room, collapsed onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Somebody had saved his life tonight.

He wondered if he would ever find out who.

* * *

Yes, there were definitely more clouds in the sky over Atmosia today. Thankfully nobody else seemed to have noticed, since it couldn't _always_ be clear blue skies all over the place, but it still reminded the teenage Sky Knight of his failure the previous night.

He'd decided not to join his friends as they went up the beacon tower to investigate what had happened. It would have been like screaming in his face that he had failed. Screwed up. Blown it. Been outwitted by somebody who wasn't even as tall as he was.

But if the thief was after the Aurora Stone, he wondered as he wandered aimlessly through the streets, why would he only take one shard? He remembered Piper saying that only one would be enough to cause untold damage when used the wrong way, but if so, wouldn't it make sense to take all of them so that any attacks couldn't be countered by a response of equal power? The more he thought about this theft, the more he realised that it didn't make a whole lot of sense.

He probably wasn't a Cyclonian agent then. If he was he would probably have taken all of the shards, just to be on the safe side. And hopefully Cyclonis had learned her lesson after the previous time she had stolen the stone, and the humiliating loss Aerrow had dealt to her.

But it wouldn't make sense for an everyday thief to go after the most powerful object in Atmos! Everyone knew what the Aurora Stone was, so there wasn't anything to be gained from stealing part of it! And unless he was some kind of super ultra crystal mage, he wouldn't know how to use it for his own means and so… he would…

"Hey, watch it!"

Aerrow was brought back to his senses when someone crashed into his side and almost knocked him over.

"Sorry!" he shouted at the retreating back.

Wait.

It was _that_ kid. He'd recognise that coat and its symbol anywhere.

He turned around and tried to keep moving, but found himself constantly looking over his shoulder to check if he was being followed. He couldn't see the tell-tale red coat anywhere, but still couldn't escape the feeling that someone was watching him.

And there was something rubbing against his hip.

When he checked, he saw that someone had tucked a folded piece of paper into his waistband, so he pulled it out and unfolded it.

Nothing.

He turned it over.

_Behind the beacon tower._

_Noon._

_Need to talk._

_Don't be followed._

Huh?!

After the events of last night, he was ready to tear up the paper and throw the scraps into the wind to be blown down to the Wastelands and burned into oblivion.

But he couldn't bring himself to.

What if this kid needed his help? But if he did, why not ask for it yesterday? Because the rest of his squad was with him? But if so, why not ask when they were alone and he was putting those scrolls away? It didn't make any sense!

And, whispered a little voice in the back of his head, the best way to find out would be to go there and ask him.

He hated dilemmas like this.

He looked up at the sun. It was getting close to noon, but he probably had plenty of time to get there. That kid most likely didn't know the rest of his squad were already there, so they'd have the advantage if he got troublesome. Plus he was just one kid who needed someone taller to lift down things of high shelves for him – how much harm could he do?

Yeah, Aerrow decided. He would be alright.

He started heading towards the tower, taking care not to get in anybody else's way and saying hello to those who recognised him. Nobody actually tried to stop him, for which he was both thankful and disappointed: secretly he would have liked an excuse to not have to talk to that strange kid. For all he knew this could be an assassination attempt in the making.

Nah. If that kid was an assassin, he would have attacked in the library.

Right?

He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following him and sure enough, he was still on his own.

And he was still on his own when he reached his destination, finding that the boy hadn't arrived yet.

He looked at the note again. The paper was yellowing and frayed at one of the edges, as if it had been torn out of the back of one of the books in the library, which wasn't at all impossible. The writing was quite rough but still rather neat, like someone with good handwriting had been in a hurry. Also possible.

But again, if this guy wanted to talk so desperately, _why wait until now rather than speaking up in the library?!_

Wow, this kid was stupid.

Either that or he didn't trust Aerrow, which almost made sense.

"So you actually came."

He spun around, reaching for his knives, to find the kid leaning casually against the wall, still with his hood up.

"Didn't think you were gonna show up," he said bitterly.

"Of course I did," said Aerrow, lowering his hands. "Call me a dumbass if you want, but I make a point of investigating things when a strange kid tucks a note into my pants."

"Sorry about that," the boy replied, and he had the nerve to almost sound friendly. "Didn't see any other way to get the message to you without drawing attention. You weren't followed, were you?"

Aerrow shook his head.

"Good," said the boy, and he took a few steps closer. "Sorry, but I don't really trust very many people around here."

"Well, forgive me for sounding paranoid," said Aerrow, "but I find it kinda hard to trust people who never take their hoods down and ask to meet other people behind large buildings."

The boy's fist clenched. He was clearly trying not to lash out.

"You're a Sky Knight, right?" he asked. "I've heard you guys are almost like heroes. You're good at helping people, right?"

"As far as I know," Aerrow said.

"I need some help," said the boy. "I need to get home as quickly as possible, I've already been away for way longer than I wanted to be and I'm stuck here. There's people waiting for me and I need to get back to them."

He… _sounded_ genuine.

But Aerrow was still hesitant.

"Didn't you get what I was trying to say just now?" he said. "You just told me to meet here. You haven't told me your name, where you're from; you haven't even taken your hood off! How am I supposed to help you if I don't even know if I can trust you or not? For all I know, you could be a Cyclonian spy!"

The boy froze.

"I'm a Sky Knight," said Aerrow, "not an idiot."

The strange boy gritted his teeth and raised his hands to his hood.

"Fine," he snapped, and yanked it down.

Aerrow almost stepped back in shock.

This was the most bizarre looking person he'd ever seen in his whole life. His face was soft, almost feminine, but screamed of teenage defiance as his fearsome golden – not yellow or orange or even amber, but full on _golden_ – eyes glared at the Sky Knight. He probably would have looked like some street kid, the scrappy kind who hangs out with tough guys just so they don't pick on him, if it weren't for the (admittedly very nice) coat and his hair: it was just as gold as his eyes and fell on either side of his face, but was also pulled back behind his shoulders and stuck up at the front like an antenna. The rest of his clothes that were visible under his coat were all black, save for a ridiculously thick brown leather belt and red on the soles of his heavy-looking boots.

He generally looked like someone who was trying far too hard to seem tough.

On the other hand, despite his height, he looked a lot older than Aerrow had first assumed. Fourteen, perhaps? Fifteen?

"The hell are you staring at?" he demanded.

"What? Oh, sorry!" Aerrow suddenly realised how creepy he must have looked. "Sorry, I've just never seen anyone like you before."

"What can I say?" the boy said. "I'm one of a kind. You wanted to know my name? It's Edward. Edward Elric. My friends call me Ed."

Aerrow couldn't help it. He tried and failed to hide his sniggering.

"What're you laughing at?" asked the boy. "What's so funny? Never heard that name before?"

"No!" Aerrow admitted. "Man, your parents are cruel."

"Hey, don't you badmouth my parents!" the boy almost shouted. "Anyway, what's your name? I like to know people's names so I know who I'm itching to punch in the face."

"Huh? Oh, my name's Aerrow. Just Aerrow."

Now it was the boy's – Edward's – turn to laugh. Only he didn't even try to hide it. The way he was laughing, it was amazing the whole terra didn't hear him.

"What's so funny about that?" asked the bemused Sky Knight.

"What's so _funny?!_" cried Edward. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard in my life! What's your twin brother's name, Groundo?!"

"I don't have a twin brother," Aerrow said flatly as the boy continued laughing.

Thankfully it wasn't long before he stopped, and snapped back to being serious at a rather alarming speed.

"So are you gonna help me or what?" he asked.

"Well," said Aerrow, "you see, Ed-"

"Edward."

"Excuse me?"

"I told you my _friends_ call me Ed. I don't trust you enough to call you a friend, so until then call me Edward."

Aerrow frowned. This kid was talking down to him, something he'd never appreciated. Couldn't there have been a way to correct him that didn't make this guy sound like an arrogant jerk?

"_Edward_," he said, "I'd like to help, but my squad and I are kinda busy right now. Somebody robbed this place last night and we're still trying to figure out exactly what went down."

"Couldn't have been anything too major," said Edward. "Who'd want to rob a lighthouse?"

'Wow,' thought Aerrow. 'Which rock has this guy been living under for the past few months?'

"But I think I might've seen what happened."

"What?"

"Yeah, I was hanging around here last night and I saw some guy come running out, looked like he was in a hurry."

"What else did you see?"

"Enough to know that he probably hasn't left this terra yet. Criminals tend to hang around the scene of the crime they've committed. Gives them satisfaction, sort of thing."

'Funny,' Aerrow thought. 'That's exactly what _you're_ doing, you weirdo.'

"How about this?" said Edward. "You agree to help me get back home and I'll tell you everything I know. Equivalent exchange."

Equiva… what? He meant fair trade, right? Wouldn't that have been much easier to say?

"I don't buy it," said Aerrow.

"Huh? Why not?" Edward demanded, half from anger and half from shock.

"I don't trust you," Aerrow replied.

"Listen, you grassy-eyed bastard," the short blonde snarled, pointing a finger up at Aerrow's face and causing the Sky Knight to lean back in alarm. "I've already spent way longer in this stupid dump than I wanted and I've got plenty of people waiting for me back home who depend on me! So either you help me or-"

"Or what?" Aerrow smiled smugly. "What's a shorty like you gonna do to someone like me?"

Edward froze.

"Uh… is something wrong?" asked Aerrow.

"_What?_"

Oh no. That tone sounded dangerous.

"_What did you just call me?_" Edward snarled.

"I just figured that since you insulted me, you wouldn't mind if I insulted you," said Aerrow, but stepped back all the same as his confidence was fading.

Then Edward punched him.

Hard.

And he fell quite painfully to the ground with a taste of blood in his mouth. He quickly checked: no teeth lost, that was good. He rubbed his painful cheek, a sharp sting notifying him that his cut had opened up again.

"What was tha-"

"SO YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE OKAY TO CALL ME A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL HE COULD EASILY JUMP THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE LIKE A STUNT DOG?!" the blonde roared deafeningly.

"That isn't what I said-!"

"Get up! Get up, you son of a bitch! Get up so I can punch you to the ground aga- _oof!_"

The 'oof' was because Aerrow had taken the opportunity to kick Edward's legs out and bring him down to the same level, and he seemed to hit the floor with quite a bit more force than someone his size should have.

"Wow," said the Sky Knight as he got up, "do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"THAT IS _**IT!**_"

Edward shot up faster than should have been possible for somebody of his stature, seized the front of Aerrow's shirt and prepared to punch him again, this time with a growl of fury.

But before he could land the blow, the two were blasted apart.

Aerrow looked up while Edward stared at the still-quivering crossbow bolt now partially embedded in the ground.

"Thanks, Finn!" the Sky Knight shouted.

"No problem, dude! This wingman's always got your back!" was the distant reply.

Edward scrambled to his feet while Aerrow calmly straightened up again.

"I thought I told you to make sure you weren't followed!" cried the blonde.

"And I wasn't," the redhead helpfully informed him. "I just decided not to tell you about my squad mates that were already here."

He wiped the blood off his cheek with his thumb.

"I'm a Sky Knight," he repeated, "not an idiot."

"DAMMIT!"

With that final curse Edward turned on his heels and started to run.

Aerrow pressed a finger to his ear.

"Listen up, guys," he said. "You know that kid from the library yesterday? I just met up with him and he says he knows stuff about the robbery last night, but we got into a bit of a fight and Finn's scared him off."

"Nice going, genius," said the voice of Piper.

"He was about to punch him out!" cried Finn. "If I hadn't heard that guy shouting about needles or whatever-"

"Long story short, we need to catch him before he disappears," said Aerrow. "There's something about him that just seems a little too familiar for my liking."

"You think he might've been the thief?" Piper suggested.

"I'm not sure," said Aerrow, "but I have my suspicions. Junko, can you hear me?"

From Junko's end of the line:

"-coming from _your_ room so I expect _YOU_ to deal with it!"

"But it's probably just the pipes or the walls; this ship is so old-"

"She's not old, she's a classic!"

"I'm right here!" said Junko's voice as Stork continued ranting in the background. "Stork thinks he can hear noises coming from my room so-"

"I'm not! Thinking! _Anything!_"

"What is it you need?"

"You know that kid from the library yesterday?" said Aerrow. "He told me he knows stuff about the robbery yesterday and he's just made a break for it, so do you think you could try to head him off? He's headed for the back allies – you can't miss him, he's probably the only person in existence who looks like his hair's made of money."

"I'll be right there!" said Junko, and the sound went dead.

Before he made off, Aerrow noticed something shining on the ground which hadn't been there before. He picked it up and examined it.

It was… it was a pocket watch. The kind that rich guys kept in their chest pockets, except this one had evidently been dropped by Edward. It was silver with a strange symbol embossed on the cover: some mix of lion and snake between a diamond and a hexagon, and a vine or chain of some sort bordering the bottom half.

Weird. Why wouldn't it open?

Never mind. That kid would be even angrier if it was lost.

He tucked the watch into his armour for safekeeping and began to run.

* * *

**I promised the next one would be longer and look, it is!**

**I should also mention that I already have the entire plot of this story worked out and am still feeling a little uncomfortable writing for a Western cartoon rather than a Japanese one, like I'm used to. Please don't hesitate to let me know if somebody's out of character because it really isn't intentional (unlike some - I've now heard My Immortal's dramatic readings twice and I'm not sure if I'm a hundred percent sane anymore).**

**How is it that the Storm Hawks communicate when they're away from their rides? If they have earphones or something we never get to _see_ them, so I'm just going by the show.**

**Writing Ed is so much fun.**

**Please review and share your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!**


	3. Chapter 3

Edward ran. He didn't care where he was going so long as it was away from that spiky-haired stickman, whatever his deal was.

'Don't be followed'. Was that really such a hard instruction to follow? And then he'd made up some stupid crap about them already being there as if that was any _different_ from them being followed, but if anything, it was so much worse! What was he expecting, trouble?

Alright, trouble was basically what had happened, but that was beside the point!

He mentally slapped himself. Nobody here was trustworthy; he should have realised this by now and was an idiot for denying it even for a second. He had to find his _own_ way out, his _own_ way back home or else he would be stuck here for-

No. Don't think like that. If he thought like that'd he'd just fall into a rut.

Again.

He didn't want to go there again. He couldn't take it.

He stopped to examine his surroundings.

Still in the back alleys. Right. He had to stay away from where there were lots of people. Couldn't draw attention to himself. It only led to bad things.

But he'd seen the look on that idiot's face. He was suspicious. Did he _know?_

He couldn't.

He _couldn't_.

Dammit! Why was he thinking about this so much? He should be focused on running! He had to find somewhere to hide; somewhere nobody could find him and then-

He turned a corner and ran right into a dead end.

He looked back, but nobody was following him. Apparently. Thankfully.

Then the wall exploded.

Edward jumped back, landing like a cat while simultaneously shielding himself with his arms. He avoided clapping. Didn't need to bring in any more attention than he had already.

"Sorry!" yelled a voice from within the dust. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

The blonde boy coughed and cleared the air in front of his face.

"No," he choked while still trying (unsuccessfully) to sound snarky. "Not so you'd notice!"

The dust settled to reveal a… they were called Wallops, weren't they?

"I really didn't mean to hurt you," he said with a degree of innocence that only made Edward feel nauseous. "Hey, wait! You're the guy I'm supposed to be chasing after!"

"Aw, dammit," Edward swore, bracing himself for either a fight or a second round of running. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"If by them you mean Storm Hawks, then yeah," the stranger replied, "and Aerrow told me how you attacked him while I was looking for you, and for the record I don't really like it when people try to hurt my friends."

He slammed his fists together and they glowed with brilliant and strangely ferocious green energy.

"So are you gonna come quietly or what?" he asked.

Edward looked him up and down.

"You're big," he commented.

The quite clearly teenage Wallop raised a confused eyebrow.

"I've fought bigger," the short boy added with a cheeky smile.

"Is that a no?"

"No, it's a SCREW YOU!"

He charged at the Wallop, fist rising for the clout of a lifetime, but he was beaten to the punch (literally) when a glowing green fist was swung in his direction with far more speed than somebody that muscular should possess. Luckily, as he had stated, Edward had experience with fighting opponents such as this and he not only ducked in time, but grabbed the arm and slammed his right fist into his attacker's face.

The Wallop reeled back, stunned, and Edward took the opportunity to run past him and out of sight.

"Hey!" said the adolescent voice behind him. "Hey, you made my nose bleed! HEY!"

"Sorry, big guy!" Edward shouted. "I already got enough problems without someone like you making another one for me!"

He turned another corner and kept running, eventually reaching a wall with a series of drainpipes running up the side and connecting to a gutter at the top. Without any consideration as to whether they could take his weight he grabbed onto one and started climbing.

'Damn,' he internally swore. 'Wish I could just make myself some handholds and get this over with, but people in this world don't seem to know about-'

_Thwack_

A small stone flew down and hit him squarely on the left shoulder.

"Ow!" he shouted.

When he looked up, he saw a blue furry… _something_ standing in the gutter up above, raising another rock in its little paw before throwing it down. He ducked out of the way and in the process almost fell off the pipe, luckily regaining his grip in time.

He looked back up and for the first time noticed the little silver badge pinned to the vest the creature was for some reason wearing.

"Oh, come on!" he shouted. "How many of you guys are there? Hell, I don't even know what you _are!_"

Then he realised what it was. It was raising another rock, this time with a suspiciously evil-looking grin. Edward pulled himself a little further away from the not-so-welcoming ground.

"Can you _not_ do that?" he asked pointlessly. "What're you doing this for, anyway? Why do you wanna knock me off?"

The blue furry whatever looked shocked, then shook its head and made a noise almost like it was saying 'No!'

"Oh, really?" Edward said sarcastically. "Then what…"

He looked down at the sound of approaching footsteps.

The teenage Wallop ran into view, blood drying on his lower face. He smiled when he saw the blue thing.

"Thanks, Radarr!" he shouted while waving.

Then he punched the pipe.

Edward couldn't avoid screaming as it leaned back, threatening to smash him down into either the wall or the ground, but thankfully his instincts kicked in at just the right moment and he unwrapped his legs. The momentum from the jolt of the pipe colliding with the wall of the building opposite helped him swing up so that he was on top of the tube, and he scrambled up and onto the roof.

"See ya, suckers!" he shouted as he continued running.

Running over the rooftops was far more difficult than it was on the roads and in the alleyways, but it was worth it if he could not only escape those weirdoes but also see where he was going. Just so long as he could remain out of sight-

_**HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK**_

-and just as he was about to finish that hopeful thought, a gigantic double-eagle-faced metal behemoth that blared like a car on caffeine rose into view from behind the buildings, and poor Edward almost jumped right out of his skin at the terrifying sight.

Once he had got over the shock of this unbelievable _monster_ roaring right into his face, he squinted, trying to get a good look at the pilot. He could only barely make him out: green skin, lanky black hair and a massive grin that was downright evil looking. It didn't take the black-clad boy long to realise that this was yet _another_ person intent on hunting him down, and this was only seconds before something exploded behind him and threw him forward, almost knocking him off the roof.

It was another of those crossbow bolts.

But how? He was so far away! Unless…

'Crap,' he thought. 'They've got a Hawkeye of their own!'

Up here he was even more of a sitting duck than he was in the alleys, so he swung down and jumped from window ledges to drainpipes and back again until he was back on the ground. As tempting as it was to just solve this problem by just making an exit in one of these walls, he knew he couldn't afford to be outed. This was a world that apparently relied on magic crystals, after all. How would they react to something like _that?_

He wanted to keep running, but he was having trouble breathing and his leg was beginning to get tired from all the strain; it had been several days since he'd done something as strenuous as this. He stopped at a corner and bent over, clutching his knees and trying to catch his breath.

"Dammit," he gasped. "How many… of those bastards… are there?"

He grabbed a nearby corner so he didn't fall over.

"Only six."

Then he jumped up again, and when he looked he saw the red-headed stickman leaning casually against the wall as if he did this every day.

"Well, seven sometimes," he said. "It depends on whether or not Starling's in the area."

"I don't care!" Edward managed to shout. "That question was rhetorical; I wasn't asking for an answer! I don't give a damn how many of you there are!"

"And yet you want our help?" asked Aerrow.

He started walking towards the shorter boy.

"If you just told us what you know, we'd probably stop chasing you," Aerrow helpfully pointed out. "So why don't you just give up? It'll make it easier on all of us, you included."

Edward pushed himself back up and raised his fists, but still staggered a little from exhaustion.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," said Aerrow. "I'm the first person to ever beat one of Cyclonia's most fearsome commanders in a one-on-one fight; I think I could take you pretty easily."

"That's what you-"

The shorter boy froze in mid-sentence, a look of horror washing over his face. For a moment it had looked as if he was about to clap his hands, but he lowered them soon after with an expression of absolute fury.

"What was that about?" asked Aerrow.

"None of your goddamn business what that was!" Edward snapped, blushing in humiliation. "It was nothing, alright?"

"'Coz it kinda looked like you were gonna-"

"JUST _SHUT UP!_" Edward shouted, and he swung a fist at Aerrow's face.

The Sky Knight stepped out of the way, grabbed the boy's wrist and swung him to the side and out of the way, but rather than coming back around for another hit like he had been expecting, Edward shook himself free of the vivid red coat and kept running, the removal revealing his golden hair to be long and braided and reaching almost to his mid-back.

"I'll never stop, you hear me?" he shouted over his shoulder. "I'll never stop! You're gonna have to be some kind of strategic mastermind to pull one over on me- WHA!"

The 'wha' was because at that precise moment, a rather dainty hand reached out, grabbed hold of the thick golden braid and yanked him back. He was too shocked at first even to struggle.

"Well then," said a cheerful feminine voice, the source of which he couldn't quite see, "glad to know my efforts are appreciated! And for the record, having such long hair does make it pretty easy to grab onto."

Edward twisted around to see that his braid was in the grip of a pretty, dark-skinned girl who smiled down at him in such a sly way that it almost made him sick.

"Who are you to lecture me on long hair?!" he demanded.

"My hair may be kinda long," she said, "but at least I don't make it into a nice convenient handle."

"SHUT UP! LONG HAIR LOOKS SUAVE AND COOL ON GUYS!" Edward screamed with all the maturity of a five-year-old.

"Are you sure?" asked Aerrow as he approached. "Are you sure it's not just because no barber can stand to be near you for more than five minutes?"

"And you can shut up too!" cried Edward. "Your hair looks like a cannibal hedgehog!"

"Cannibal… what?"

"Don't pretend you didn't _ow will you stop that_," said Edward as the girl tugged firmly on his hair.

"You think you got him handled, Piper?" asked Aerrow.

"Handled?" said Piper. "Give me some credit, Aerrow. I think I can handle some long-haired shorty."

"No, don't-"

"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO CALL ME A PINT-SIZED PIPSQUEAK WHO CAN BARELY SEE OVER THE TOP OF HIS OWN SHOES?!" screamed Edward, and Piper had to quickly switch her hand to his forehead to keep him from coming any closer.

Aerrow could only watch in bafflement.

"Let's… just… get back to the Condor," he said weakly as the blonde continued ranting.

* * *

"Edward Elric. Rank: Major. Number 309094."

"Dude, is that just all you know how to say?" asked Finn. "You sound like a broken record!"

"That's just it, he _does_ say other things," said Aerrow, then looked to Edward. "So why don't you?"

Edward's fists clenched on his knees.

"Edward Elric," he repeated. "Rank: Major. Number 309094."

"Will you _stop_ that?!" Finn almost shouted.

"While it is quite likely that this boy simply contracted Vocal Repititis," Stork added, "and I highly doubt we should completely rule out that possibility, I think it's far more plausible that he's simply being difficult."

The long-haired boy hissed through his teeth.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you guys anything until I know for sure I can trust you," he said, "and you can't force anything out of me either. I know my rights."

"Rights?" Aerrow said, baffled.

"Yeah, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," said Edward. "All I need to say is my name, my rank and my number, and you guys aren't allowed to use force to get anything else out of me. Anyone with a brain cell and a half knows that much at least."

Well, apparently _they_ didn't.

"Wha… _who_ knows that?" asked the bemused Finn. "Dude, what planet did you say you were from?"

Edward raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed, as Piper entered the room.

"Is Junko okay?" asked Aerrow.

"Yeah, he's fine," she reported. "He couldn't remember whether you're supposed to lean forwards or backwards. I told him forwards, unless he wanted to bleed out of his eyes."

Five faces contorted into grimaces of disgust.

"You didn't have to punch him, you know," she said to the smallest human in the room.

"One, I kinda forgot that my right arm packs more of a punch than my left," said Edward, "and two, I actually did 'coz the guy wouldn't leave me alone. Didn't anyone ever tell you guys that it's not a good idea to convince someone to trust them by hunting them down like some wild animal?"

"Could you at least tell us how old you are?" asked Aerrow.

"Yeah, so I know whether or not it's okay for me to whack you, 'coz you're really getting annoying," Finn added.

"Sure," said Edward. "I'm fifteen."

Silence fell upon the bridge.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

Nobody was quite sure what to say.

"Guys, what's going on?" Junko asked as he entered with an icepack clutched to his nose. "Why's everybody-"

"Ssh!" Finn ran over to him with a finger over his lips, then pointed at Edward and whispered "See that kid?"

"Yeah," Junko responded, "he's the one who-"

"He's _fifteen_."

"Huh?" The Wallop looked from his best friend to the sitting boy and back, over and over, as if hoping this would somehow bring some clarity into the situation. "No, he can't be! He's so…"

"I know, right?"

"Aerrow, aren't you going to be fifteen in a few months?" Piper whispered to the redhead.

"I think so," Aerrow replied. "But… that doesn't explain…"

"I'm, uh, going to stay out of this," Stork said, and stalked away to hide _behind_ the helm. "Whatever's caused what I assume you're all talking about, it can't be healthy."

"What's with all the whispering?" Edward demanded. "So I'm fifteen, so what? It shouldn't matter, I'm probably younger than all of you."

Yet more silence.

"I'm gonna tell him," Finn said with a mischievous smile.

"Don't you dare!" said Piper.

"Wait," said Edward, who was finally starting to put it all together. "No. No, you're joking, right? You're _joking_."

Aerrow cleared his throat, hoping it would lessen the awkwardness a little (which, of course, it didn't).

"The only one here who's older than you is Stork," he said, indicating the pilot, "and he's about… uh…"

"Twenty," Stork chimed in.

"Yeah, that," said Aerrow. "As for the rest of us (apart from Radarr, who we're not really sure about) we're… um… fourteen."

Edward gave him what could only be described as a death glare from the darkest depths of hell. None of the Storm Hawks had known until that moment that a single person could ever look so angry.

He got out of the chair, slowly and carefully and, with a strange air of patience, walked over to Aerrow and stood in front of him, looking up at his face – the key word here being 'up'. When he didn't, the tip of his little hair antenna only _barely_ reached the same height as the Sky Knight's shoulder.

In one way it was adorable. In another it was hilarious. And in one strange way, it was a very tense and very worrying moment as the short blonde slowly got angrier and angrier with every passing second.

"Did I do something wrong?" Aerrow asked, nonplussed.

The shorter boy growled in rage.

"How can you be a _whole year_ younger than me and yet so much TALLER than me?!" he demanded, shoving a finger in the redhead's face and childishly stamping his foot.

"Probably because I don't stomp myself into the ground," Aerrow said, crossing his arms and smiling smugly. "You know, like you're doing right now?"

Edward groaned, turned on his heels and fell to his knees.

"I hate everything," he muttered.

They couldn't contain themselves any longer. This boy's behaviour was so dramatic and just downright _bizarre_ that every member of the Storm Hawks burst out laughing, and all the short blonde could do was glare at them all with reproach. If anything, that just made it funnier.

"Yeah, ha ha ha," he said sarcastically, "let's all laugh at the apparently vertically challenged guy."

"Apparently?!" Finn was laughing the hardest, but he still managed to speak. "Dude, you've gotta be the shortest guy older than me that I've ever seen in my whole life!"

"Uh, Finn?" Aerrow sadly went unheard while, on the floor, Edward clenched his fists.

"I mean, the first time I saw you, I thought you were like, twelve!" Finn continued relentlessly. "And then you come in here and you say you're a whole year older than us? Did somebody sit on you or something?"

"Finn?" said Piper as Edward started growling, and she swiped her hand in a cutting motion at her throat. "_Ixnay_ on the _ortshay_."

"No, no! One more, please?" said the still-ignorant Finn. "Come on! What's he gonna do to me, anyway? Bite my ankles?"

Edward suddenly sprang to his feet and launched himself at the marksman, who screamed and took to cowering behind Junko and was only saved by Aerrow catching the shorter boy's collar in the nick of time.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY HE COULD SAFELY SLEEP INSIDE AN OYSTER AND USE THE PEARL INSIDE AS A PILLOW BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY THING SMALL ENOUGH?!" he ranted. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! CAN'T YOU TELL I'M STILL GROWING, YOU AIR-HEADED MORON?!"

"See," said Stork, "this is why I don't get involved."

"I should've warned you," Aerrow said as Edward continued swiping at thin air, "height is kind of a sensitive topic for this guy."

"Yeah," Finn squeaked, "I figured!"

"GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME, YOU SPINY-HEADED SON OF A BITCH!" Edward yelled. "Dammit! Get off me, Flyboy!"

"Flyboy?" Aerrow was about as confused as it's possible for somebody to get.

"You fly, don't you?" Edward asked as if this was supposed to be some kind of explanation.

"Wait," said Junko, and he pointed at the angry boy. "What's that on your arm?"

"Huh?" Edward snapped out of his rage alarmingly quickly.

"Is that metal?" Junko asked. "Why do you have metal on your arm?"

His swiping at an end, Edward stepped back and moved his right sleeve slightly, revealing what was definitely a metal plate that appeared to extend beyond the boundary of his white glove.

"Oh, that," he said, as if only just realising it was there. "I was born with a withered arm and leg, so I have to wear this armour stuff to reinforce them. It does get in the way occasionally, but I've kinda lost count of all the times it's saved my ass."

"Is that why it hurt so much when you hit me?" asked Aerrow, rubbing his cheek and glad to have both hands free at last. "'Coz I feel like you might've loosened one of my teeth or something."

"Yeah, it does pack a pretty hard punch," said Edward, pulling his sleeve down again. "Sorry about that."

Finn peered over Junko's shoulder.

"Is it over?" he asked. "Why didn't somebody tell me he didn't like being called short?"

Edward growled in resurfacing rage.

"I'd give that a rest if I were you, Finn," said Piper. "Your name's Edward, isn't it? If you want us to help you get home, could you at least tell us where it is?"

"It's…" The boy was suddenly hesitant. "Amestris. In the east."

"Amestris?" It was now Piper's turn to be confused. "I've charted almost all of Atmos and I've never heard of any place called Amestris."

"It's… uh… kinda under the radar," said Edward.

"No, Aerrow's under Radarr," Finn retorted, indicating the blue creature sitting on the Sky Knight's shoulder. "You're just making stuff up."

"It's a real place!" Edward insisted. "I should know, I live there! Or at least I did until I wound up in this stink hole!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Isn't anybody going to mention that disgusting pun?" asked Stork.

"If it's a real place, what's the name of your sky squadron?"

"We don't have one. We don't _need_ one."

"Seriously," Stork continued, regardless of the ignorance he was faced with. "Are you all just ignoring it? 'Under Radarr'? Really?"

"Is this symbol on the back of your coat supposed to mean anything?" asked Aerrow, who was holding the red garment and examining the black markings while Radarr leaned down and gently felt the material, then picked up one of the sleeves and rubbed it on his cheek when he discovered how soft it was. "What's it supposed to be, some squadron's insignia?"

Edward glared at him with contempt.

"Gimme that," he said, and snatched it back. "It's called a flamel and honestly, I'm not all that surprised that you don't recognise it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Junko asked indignantly. "That we're stupid? 'Coz we're not!"

"Can one of you come over here for a moment?"

"No," said Edward, donning the coat. "Just that you don't know very much about me so you shouldn't be making judgements about me so quickly."

"The only reason we're making judgments about you is 'coz you're being so annoying!" Finn walked right up to the shorter blonde and stared straight down at his face. "You say you want our help? How about starting by actually saying what you want help with?"

"I need to get home as quickly as possible, I already said!" Edward insisted.

"Then why don't you tell us where it is?!" By now Finn was practically shouting.

"Didn't I just tell you?!" Edward was getting rather loud as well. "Amestris, more specifically, a little place called Resembool! In the east!"

"There's really something very important that you all should know about once you're done with that noise-"

"Oh yeah?" said Finn. "C'mon, I doubt a pipsqueak like you even knows which way east is!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT THE ONLY WAY HE COULD PLAY ANY KIND OF PIANO IS BY STEPPING ON ALL THE INDIVIDUAL KEYS AND HE'S SO TINY IT'S AMAZING HE DOESN'T FALL RIGHT DOWN BETWEEN THEM?!"

"Guys, will you give it a rest?" said Aerrow as Junko wrapped Edward in a headlock, with a face which said he'd rather be anywhere but there. "This is already weird enough as it is without you guys fighting!"

"Don't call it a fight, dude" said Finn, "'coz that'd mean we're evenly matched, right? It's hardly a fight when I could win it just by stepping on the guy."

"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT WITH THE COMMENTS ON MY GODDAMN HEIGHT?!" Edward demanded, and poor Junko was having a hard time keeping his grip. "I'M _NOT_ SHORT! IT'S THE REST OF THIS WORLD THAT'S TOO DAMN BIG!"

"I seriously can't believe what I'm witnessing," Piper said quietly.

"I don't mean to bother anybody," said Stork, "but unless _one_ of you starts listening to me we are all going to be well and truly DOOMED!"

At that, everybody else finally started paying attention to him. Radarr leapt off Aerrow's shoulder and bounded over to the periscope and peered through. He screeched in alarm, prompting Aerrow to approach and take his turn.

"Oh boy," he said, "that's not good."

"What is it?" asked the now calmed Edward as Junko set him down.

"See for yourself," Aerrow said, offering the periscope.

Edward pulled the periscope down to eye level ("You think he wants a stool to stand on?" Finn asked quietly, causing Junko and Piper to snigger) and peered through.

He saw flocks of skimmers all ridden by men wearing the same uniform, surrounding a massive blood-red cruiser, making for an epic and definitely ominous spectacle.

"Cyclonians," Aerrow informed the rest of his squad. "A lot of them, heading straight for Atmosia. Doesn't look like they got any big names with them but at the rate they're moving, they'll be here within an hour, so we gotta move and we gotta move _fast_."

"Ugh, FINALLY!" cried Finn. "Some real action, at last!"

"You want us to go get suited up?" asked Junko.

"Go for it," said Aerrow.

Everyone except him, Stork and Edward punched the air and whooped with joy. Stork sighed in annoyance and Edward just looked baffled.

"Oh," Aerrow said when he noticed this, "you're gonna stay here. You wanna make it home safe? Try not to get involved in this because these situations tend to get hairy."

"I wasn't gonna complain," Edward said, holding up his hands defensively.

"Good!" said Aerrow, glad that he wasn't arguing again. "I'm sure Stork will be okay with you. Sit back and enjoy the show!"

He left the bridge.

"Is he always so… laid back?" Edward asked. "I gotta admit, it's a bit unnerving!"

Stork sighed.

"You have _no_ idea," he said.

* * *

**I know, I know, it's not as long as the previous one, and I apologise profusely for how long it took me to get this chapter finished. It's just that school has just been Ass. SLAPPAGE. Ever since I started once again. I understand that it's my final year so there's a lot of pressure for me to pass and stuff, but still! You'd think they'd be a little more understanding of the student's mental health! I guess I'm lucky since I'm not one of those who has a job (mostly because I plan on leaving that until I finish school) but it still feels pretty damn hectic.**

**I think my favourite part of writing this story is coming up with the various rants Ed has when people call him short. I don't want to just copy-paste them from the source material because that'd be pretty cheap, and as creative writing goes, it's not very creative. I came up with that piano one when I was listening to, you guessed it, piano music.**

**It's totally possible that Finn and Ed would bug each other. Just the clash seems pretty entertaining.**

**Hopefully the next chapter won't take quite as long to type up, since it's mostly going to be Ed and Stork (wondering if I can work in a reference to the fact that Stork's VA played Hohenheim in the first FMA).**

**Please review, I love to hear what you think!**


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